The decisive battle is imminent, as Fiorentina is not focused on facing Sassuolo.

The decisive battle is imminent, as Fiorentina is not focused on facing Sassuolo.

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This weekend, the Serie A, La Liga, and Ligue 1 will all come to a close. Among them, there is an early arranged match tonight in Serie A between Sassuolo and Fiorentina. The reason for this arrangement is that Fiorentina will participate in the UEFA Europa League final next Wednesday.


Fiorentina's situation is similar to Roma's last weekend, as Roma also had a crucial Europa League final this Wednesday. At that time, they were also the away team against Fiorentina. Mourinho almost completely rotated the squad, with only three defenders from the previous league starting lineup, including Smalling, Llorente, and Zalewski. Moreover, the first two players have recently recovered from injuries and need time to regain their form, otherwise they probably wouldn't start.


How will Fiorentina choose? It's obvious, they will definitely make a complete squad rotation. Although coach Iachini had only partially rotated the squad in the league matches before the semi-finals against Basel, the final is too special. It is their only way to enter European competition next season, and winning the final would directly qualify them for the group stage of the UEFA Europa League.


Last season, Fiorentina finished 7th in the league, their highest position since the 2015/16 season, and thus earned the opportunity to compete in the UEFA Europa League. This season, their league performance has declined, currently sitting in 9th place, tied with Torino in 8th place. The highest position they can achieve is probably 8th, and the lowest is 10th. The difference is not significant, as they cannot qualify for European competition through the league route.


In the previous weekend's rotation-heavy Roma lineup, at least notable players like Smalling, Spinazzola, El Shaarawy, and Belotti were in the starting lineup. Fiorentina will most likely directly rotate absolute key players such as N. González, Amrabat, and Vlahović. Their squad is not as strong as Roma's, so tonight they will probably look completely different.

In the first leg of this season, Fiorentina defeated Sassuolo 2-1 at home, thanks to a penalty goal by winger N. González in stoppage time. Prior to that, they had been winless in 5 matches against "The Watermelons" and had only won once in their previous 9 encounters. Being the away team tonight and with their focus on the midweek Europa League final, it will be very difficult for them to secure a victory. There might be a good number of goals, with a scoreline of 2-1 or 3-1 being considered.